LGA Terrace Review — Wednesday, December 6.1989... [The night sky \h" , Terrace RCMP report that , by Allen Wootton. . The last month hasn’t been a great one for observing the stars. Occasionally a few stars were visible and, as well, I was pleased to see Jupiter shining brightly through the clouds early in the morning a few times. It was easy to see because Earth and Jupiter are close now and getting closer. Jupiter reaches what is called opposition. on the night of December 26 and moming of the 27th. At this time it will be as close to us as is possible this EARTH'S ORBIT ORBIT OF JUPITER'S ORBIT INNER PLANET JUPITER AT OPPOSTION @) SUN . ~~. INFERIOR - CONJUNCTION ‘The reason for this, and what is meant by opposition, can be -geen in the diagram I’ve included. The planets move around the Sun in orbits like those shown in the diagram. They move anti- clockwise as viewed from above the north pole of the solar system. The closer a planet is to. the Sun, the faster it travels in its orbit. Just now the Earth is catching up to Jupiter. On the | evening of December 26 the Sun, Earth and Jupiter will all be in a line: Jupiter will be in opposition. When the Sun sets Jupiter will rise, when Jupiter sets the Sun will be rising. This is the _ prime time for observing a planet that is further from the Sun than the Earth. The planet is close and visible all night. The closer planets can’t appear opposite to the Sun as viewed from the Earth. They only can appear at some angle on either side of the Sun. You can see why this is so from the diagram too. As the Earth rotates counter-clockwise, the Sun will set and the planet will become visible in the darkening sky. Then sometime later the planet will set too, because the observer’s horizon will rotate along with the Earth until it blocks the view of the planet. But the inner planets travel faster than the Earth. They catch up; as they move closer to the line between the Earth and the Sun they.set closer and closer to the time of sunset. This makes them harder to see. At the position called inferior conjunction, where the planet and the Sun have the same apparent position in the sky as viewed from the earth, they can’t be seen at all. When an inner planet passes the Earth-Sun line it becomes visible again, but this time in the morning. I have begun this month's article with an outline of the mo- tions of planets because an understanding of their motions makes observation of three planets especially interesting this month. One of these planets is, of course, Jupiter. It will be easy to see on any clear night from evening to morning during December, and it will be close to the Earth and thus it will appear especially bright and large. Look for it in the constellation Gemini. Don’t forget to took at it with binoculars, too. With them you see four of Jupiter’s moons. So Venus and Mercury will be interesting to watch this month, Venus will be very bright, even brighter than Jupiter, but because its orbit is inside the Earth’s, it will be visible only in the southwest for-a féw hours after sunset. -Look at Venus with binoculars: by mid-December you will be rewarded with a view of a crescent Venus. As the month goes on you will see the crescent get thinner but larger. The larger size is apparent because Venus is catching up to the Earth and getting closer. But as it gets closer we will see a smaller part of the planet’s lighted half so the cres- cent looks thinner. Mercury will be visible low in the southwest at dusk. Not many people have seen this elusive planet. It’s orbit’s close proximity to the Sun makes it difficult to see from our earthly viewpoint. Watch for fainter Saturn as well, until about December 22. At the end of the month the waxing crescent moon, Mercury, and - Venus will all occupy the same area of the sky — these close positions of bright objects are always beautiful to see. The winter solstice occurs at 1:22 p.m. on December 21st. This marks the southernmost position of the Sun as viewed from Earth. I certainly hope that there are more good viewing nights during December than there were last month so that you can see some of the things I’ve described. If the weather cooperates you can look at the planets (and stars) on the observing nights presented by the Terrace Astronomical Society. You will find telescopes set up on clear Tuesday evenings from 8 to 9:30 p.m. near the Terrace ” Public Library. The next meeting of the Society will be held at 7:40 p.m. on Tuesday, December 19 in room 108 at Caledonia Senior ‘Secondary School. _| -AceHDENTS HURT . De ef roy ty ' “ *y, : four motot vehicle accidents occurred in the Terrace area . during -the‘-past week. Ac- ” cording to RCMP Cnst. Don Oldham, .Terrace resident ’ Arthur | Erickson was’ hos- to cross Keith Ave, on foot at -onNov, 29 and was struck by. a westbound vehicle. No charges were filed against the day, a 39-year-old Kitimat resident southbound on Hwy. 37 was uninjured when he struck a moose. Damage to the vehicle was estimated at $3,000. In an incident near Cedar- ‘ yale at 3 p.m. on Dec, 1, a 29-year-old Kispiox woman escaped injury when she lost control of her vehicle. Damage to the vehicle was ~ $5,000. At 5:26 a.m. on Dec. 2, a Terrace woman received Beds eo Es ae EVERYBOD q ICBC «. ‘| ~’ pitalized: with undetermined © | . injuries when. he «attempted five minutes past midnight . driver. At 5:35 p.m. the same — undetermined injuries in a four-car collision at the cor- ner of Lakelse and Apsley. Damage: has been estimated - at $17,000 and impaired driv- ing charges are pending _ against'a 34-year-old Terrace man as a result of the acci- . dent. - 5 : . ping up their drinking/driv-. : _ ing crackdown ‘as Christmas - approaches’ and’ report a number of charges. On the night of Nov. 29 and 30 a 35-year-old Hazelton man . and a 26-year-old Terrace woman were charged in separate incidents, and over the weekend five impaired driving charges were laid and six 24-hour suspensions handed out. At 11 p.m. on Dec. 4, a 23-year-old Terrace man was. charged with im- paired driving following a police check near the North- ern Motor Inn. In other incidents, RCMP cava oe wint = 5 " apr ani mmr ee reran am ve ne a ips i ot a ah > - =! oe : report that a 22-year-old Ter=. - dent at-a local cabaret. They -cabaret at 1:50.a.m. on Dec. - 1 and once - in .custedy: - “-.. assaulted a..police officer, | RCMP say they are step- . 7 -causéd ‘over $500 damage to © |. "1a police interview room, race man is facing a number | of charges following an inci- Say the man was arrested for causing a disturbance at the damaged ‘police cells and At 11:25 a.m. on Dec. 2, two Terrace young offenders were apprehended following a break-in at Skeena Junior - Secondary School. Accord- — ing to Oldham, the youths were found inside the school — and had broken two windows to gain entry. There was no | estimate of the damage. In _ another incident, a 26-year- old Terrace man was charged with possession of marijuana — for the purpose of trafficking . following a police check out- side a local cabaret. — “ a Kasal Parson S ee cotinued So page 12A vironment designed to accom-. - had a purpose that he wanted to achieve,’’ recalls his mother, “‘and he turned into a real little businessman’’, Kasai was con- stantly appearing in newspapers and doing radio and TV inter- views, and as the sport grew on his energy, more and more peo-. ple became involved in motor- soccer. His energy, though, was near- ing an end. While on a trip to Disneyland last — September, Kasai began having difficulty breathing and was placed in the intensive care unit of a Los Angeles hospital. He returned to Victoria in late October, but it was obvious the end was near. He was in and out of acoma and required five to six hours of” physiotherapy a day to help him clear his chest. His mother stayed with him in Victoria for about a week and he seemed to improve. He improved.so much, in fact, that as she prepared to THE SIGN OF A GOOD BUSINESS ‘NEIGHBOR ... 2 Pier \ Sieben a t mf GOOD AUSHKESS NEICHBGUE \ _ THE SIGN OF A MERCHANT | WHO CARES ABOUT PEOPLE ... This emblem Identifies the clvic-minded businessmen who sponsor Seton Migen. in the community. ‘Terry Kendell 638-8178 |v Middleton 635-5672 return to Terrace he announced: «]"}| see you at Christmas.” But this wasn’t to be. A week later, Kasai Parsons died. Much of Kasai’s energy came from within, but at the same time he had a lot of help. Fund- ing through the Arbutus Society for Children have made Anscombe House possible and Kasai’s mother will always’ remember the Anscombe House staff and the society’s con- tribution in providing her son with the best possible oppor- tunities in life. While living at Anscombe House, Kasai attend- ed Lambrick Park Secondary School, visited England and Disneyland, and took part in many other activities in an en- modate his disability. - _ Kasai’s mother asks everyone to help organizations like the Arbutus Society for Children and the’ Muscular Dystrophy — Association of Canada, but there is another way to keep Kasai’s dream alive as well. The Arbutus Society remembers Kasai’s contribution to life and - has set up a special fund to help. the sport he loved. If you want to help young people like Kasai, you can send a donation to the Arbutus Society for Children, 2400 Arbutus Road, Victoria, B.C., V8N 1V7, and mark it for the ‘‘Kasai Motor-Soccer Fund’’, f. ey ee “Groip IN ASSOCIATION WITH GEOMICRO SERVICES TORONTO, ONTARIO - REGISTRATION FEE: $30.00 _ P.O. BOX 3196. SMITHERS, 8.C, VOJ 2NO MAKE CHEQUES PAYABLE TC | SMITHERS EXPLORATION GROUP ~ COMPUTERS and - THE MINERAL INDUSTRY A DEMONSTRATION OF SPECIFIC APPLICATION SOFTWARE TO COMPUTER USERS IN THE MINERAL INDUSTRY and PRESENTS A COMPUTER TOUR TO INTRODUCE NON-GOMPUTER USERS TO HARDWARD AND A USEFUL PROGRAMS WORKSHOP 7 : DECEMBER 10th, 11th & 12th includes : HUDSON BAY LODGE SMITHERS B.C. GEOSOFT ° a an Integrated exploration ; , system . AS NCATI ER COMPUTER HARDWARE SYSTEM : PPLIGA IONS DATA BASE . THE MINERAL SERA NG. 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